Electronic systems and circuits have made a significant contribution towards the advancement of modern society and are utilized in a number of applications to achieve advantageous results. Electronic systems and circuits often include integrated circuits (ICs) fabricated on a single substrate that provide a variety of advantages over discrete component circuits. However, traditional design and manufacturing approaches for integrated circuits are often complex and consume significant resources.
In the past each given IC design was static. More recently, the semiconductor industry has developed a wide range of programmable integrated circuits. The programmable integrated circuits can be customized by system designers to perform a wide variety of tasks. Such configurable integrated circuits include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), field programmable analog arrays (FPAAs), and the like.
The configurable design elements of ICs may require configuration of operating parameters prior to run-time operation. Specifying operating parameters generally requires a time consuming and error prone process. For example, the configuration of programmable ICs typically involves complex interactions with complicated command structures and syntaxes that are not readily comprehensible or user friendly. Accordingly, there is a continued need for improved design techniques for use with programmable ICs and systems that include such ICs.